Geographic Variation Fifteen subspecies recognized, 4 in North America. The most distinct, and perhaps a good species, is lilianae, the “Lilian’s.” Found in the desert Southwest, it is smaller, has longer wings and legs, and is generally paler than typical easterns. It shows pale gray-brown plumage, like a western meadowlark, and separate and narrow bars on tail and greater coverts. It has extensive white on the tail, with the outer 3 rectrices entirely white, and the next in with substantial white. Although the calls are the same as for the eastern, the song of the “Lilian’s” is slightly more complex and lower in pitch, somewhat reminiscent of a western.

Similar Species The western meadow­lark is very similar. The call of the eastern is diagnostic; the higher-pitched chatter is unlike the dry rattle of a western. The eastern lacks yellow on the malar and is generally darker than a western, showing a saturated brown overall color. The eastern shows largely white outer 3 tail feathers, white is even more extensive on the “Lilian’s” meadowlark. The “Lilian’s” shows the pale plumage and discrete, separate barring as in western, but it lacks streaking on the pale, thus showing a great deal of contrast with the dark eye line and crown, and whitish supercilium and cheeks.

Voice Call: a buzzy dzert; also a chatter given by both sexes, higher pitched than rattle of the western meadowlark. Flight note: a sweet whistled weeet. Song: three to 5 or more loud, sliding, descending whistles lasting approximately 1.5 seconds, tsweee-tsweee-tsweeeooo.